CONTROVERSY over the five mansions built at Grundy Fold Farm first surfaced in 2016, but the saga began two years earlier when planning permission was granted.

In August 2014, Sparkle Developments got planning permission to build the luxury homes.

After receiving complaints in October 2016, the council found that the five houses were not being built in accordance with the planning permission that was granted.

On closer inspection, they found that the houses were a different design, siting and size than what was approved.

The footprint and total floor area were larger and the height of three houses were higher than permitted.

In addition, all of the homes were built away from the exact siting they had approval for.

The council advised the developer to stop work on a number of occasions over the next few months but construction did not cease until December.

In March, 2017, a retrospective planning application was submitted to retain the homes as they were built, but this was refused by the planning committee in June.

Four months later, another application was submitted to retain the five dwellings.

Following discussions between Sparkle Developments and the council’s planning department last year, the developer was told that the application could only be recommended for approval if it involved selective demolition and re-siting of some of the houses.

Some houses would have been unaffected by this proposal, other than a small reduction in their plot sizes, but two would have to be demolished.

This compromise was rejected by the developer, who decided to press on with the planning application instead.

This second application to retain the five dwellings was refused by the planning committee in May 2018.

Last summer, the council served the developer with an enforcement notice.

This action, which would have taken effect on August 1, required the developer to demolish all homes within six months.

However, Sparkle Developments appealed the notice which means enforcement action is on hold pending the outcome of the appeal.

The council is still waiting for an appeal date to be set.

After years of disputes with the developer, the homeowners at Grundy Fold Farm decided to take matters into their own hands and submit a planning application in December.

Since submitting, the homeowners have continually made a number of amendments to the application.